A short time ago, ABC aired a TV series starring Geena Davis, called Commander in Chief. It was about the first woman President of the United States, and was a pretty good--if short-lived--show, in the spirit of Aaron Sorkin's The West Wing.
In Commander in Chief, Davis' Vice President Mackenzie Allen becomes President upon the illness and then death of the elected President. It turns out, the President and many other people from his party do not want Allen to take over the Presidency. She was a trick, a ploy to get voters when she was added to the ticket, not anybody in her party's real idea of a President.
In the series, Davis' character rebuffs the party's efforts to have her resign, and instead turns out to be a capable and effective--and first female--President of the United States, despite what everyone thought of her.
Now, back in real life, John McCain has selected Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his Vice Presidential running mate. While most people (including me) don't know much about her yet, I think it is safe to assume that her resume was not the only reason McCain picked her. In fact, I don't think it would be going too far out on a limb to say, it was the only pick he could make that would steal Barack Obama's thunder, after a bravura speech at the Democratic National Convention. Picking Pawlenty, Brownback or Ridge would not have garnered the coverage McCain is now getting.
But don't forget that today is also John McCain's 72nd birthday. And that he is not an especially spry 72. And that he hasn't been in the best of health since he joined the AARP. The setup for this potential Presidency (much as I once thought a John Edwards Presidency would echo The American President) could put us in a Commander in Chief scenario. And would Palin be a match for fictional President Mackenzie Allen?
Sarah Palin was mayor of her hometown of 8000 people before being elected Governor of Alaska two years ago. (Population 600,000). She is anti-abortion even to the extent of being against abortion in cases of rape, incest, or the threat to the survival of the mother. In 1984, Palin won the Miss Wasilla beauty contest, then finished second, playing the flute, in the Miss Alaska pageant. She nevertheless was selected "Miss Congeniality." Her favorite food is moose stew. She is pro gun and pro drilling for oil in the Alaska Nature Preserve. She briefly worked as a sports reporter for local Anchorage television stations while also working as a commercial fisherwoman with her husband. She is under investigation by the state Ethics Commission in the attempted firing of her brother in law, a state trooper, following a nasty divorce proceeding involving Palin's sister. Considering these qualifications, she is now a heartbeat from the Presidency of the United States, having been selected by John McCain, age 72 and no "spring chicken", as his Vice Presidential choice. Should McCain get elected and subsequently die in office, she would be the leader of the free world. So much for the oft touted "inexperience" of Barak Obama. Anyone for moose stew at a White House State Dinner? Or perhaps snowmobile races around Washington in winter?
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